Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance in Cerebral Venous Thrombosis

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Abstract
DIFFUSION-weighted imaging (DWI), first developed by Le Bihan et al,1 can detect changes in water diffusion associated with cellular dysfunction and can be used to detect ischemic lesions of the brain within the first few hours of stroke onset.2 The application of DWI in diagnosing arterial stroke is well established and has been demonstrated by numerous experimental and clinical studies3-9 to show an early decrease and late increase, or normalization, of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). It has been well documented that cytotoxic edema, related to acute infarction, is characterized by markedly decreased diffusion and that increased interstitial water in vasogenic edema10 demonstrates increased diffusion. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) cannot differentiate between vasogenic and cytotoxic edema.